Animal research has made an outstanding contribution to the development of medicine in both scientific and didactical spheres. It is reliably known that the vast majority of discoveries in medicine are related to experimental research on animals. However, it becomes more and more obvious, that animal research represents both practical and ethical issues.
Even though animal research has been an inseparable part of medical progress for centuries, it has some worrying problems. First, any animal involving experiments has a considerable margin of error, as humans and animals have significant differences in their autonomy. Therefore, a drug or a specific method of treatment tested on an animal may lead to the opposite effect on a human. Second, it is practically impossible to determine the mental health impact of the medicine tested on an animal. Hence, animal research may not be able to prevent the risk of mental health damage done to a human by the medicine. Finally, one of the most important issues of animal research relates to ethical and moral standards (Loue, 2020). Animal research is widely considered inhuman and immoral, as in many cases, such experiences may be harmful or even lethal to animals. In addition, animals, for obvious reasons, are not able to consent to research or refuse, which makes it an even bigger moral issue.
Overall, animal research is becoming more worrisome, as the arguments against it have both rational and ethical nature. Various actions on all levels, including legislative, are constantly taken in order to prevent cruelty towards animals. Even though animal research has been beneficial for medicine development for decades, it is now important to retire from such experiments in favor of more humane methods.
Reference
Loue, S. (2020). Animal experimentation in biomedical science. Case Studies in Society, Religion, and Bioethics, 209–228. Web.